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Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Preivew: GIFT: Gateshead International Festival of Theatre

GIFT returns to Gateshead for
three action packed days of exciting new contemporary theatre, workshops and
discussions

GIFT: Gateshead International Festival of Theatre

Various locations in
Gateshead

Friday 4 to Sunday 6 May 2018

GIFT returns to Gateshead this
May with an explosive line up of UK and international artists. Celebrating bold
contemporary theatre, GIFT brings together audiences and theatre-makers for an
action packed three-day festival of new theatre, workshops and discussions.
Committed to breaking down barriers, GIFT is accessible and affordable; with a
number of free activities and performances across the festival.

As the North East’s only
dedicated contemporary theatre festival, GIFT is a unique opportunity for
audiences to experience contemporary theatre and international work right on
their doorstep. With events happening across a variety of Gateshead venues,
this year’s programme includes a thrilling mix of contemporary dance, live art,
durational performances, children’s shows, physical theatre and workshops. It’s
not to be missed!

As GIFT Festival Director, Kate
Craddock explains: "For GIFT 2018
audiences should expect to be surprised by the diverse range of work in the
programme, but also be prepared to get really involved. There are lots of
artists in the programme who will be testing out new ideas for shows, and so
audiences will be invited to offer feedback in different ways, contributing to
the next steps of a number of new artistic projects.

By programming events in venues across Gateshead, GIFT 2018 will
stretch from BALTIC on Gateshead's Quayside, all the way up through the town
centre to Caedmon Hall in Gateshead Central Library, and on to the amazing
gallery and creative space Thought Foundation in Birtley. By creating GIFT
events in many different spaces, GIFT aims to reach lots of people who might
not have encountered GIFT or the type of experience it offers.

This year, alongside the extraordinary artists from across the UK and
Europe who have been invited to perform at GIFT, there are also lots of North
East based artists to look out for."

GIFT showcases theatre that’s
contemporary and relevant. It’s about bringing people together to think,
share and have fun. Crossing cultural and interdisciplinary boundaries, GIFT
champions work from some of the most exciting, honest and innovative
performance artists around.

GIFT features over 50 artists, over 25
performances and events across 8 venues. Below are just some of the highlights
from the 2018 programme.

GIFT 2018 highlights

For 2018, GIFT is particularly excited to
be returning to BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art with a selection of free and
ticketed events.

Durational performances at BALTIC

Wallflower presented by Quarantine as part of GIFT at BALTIC (Fri)

At BALTIC, on Friday 4 May, join award-winning Manchester based theatre company Quarantine for Wallflower a
breath-taking 5-hour durational dance marathon. Quarantine are a unique voice
in British theatre, internationally acclaimed for their experiments with
everyday life. Spanning a lifetime of music, fashion, politics, friendships,
parties, love and loss, Wallflower is
a show about how dancing can shape our lives. Alongside this performance,
audiences are invited to share their own remembered dances and add to a
playlist of tracks, which will be played at the Wallflower after-show party (also at BALTIC).As the company’s director Richard Gregory
explains:

“Like much of Quarantine’s work, the performance serves as a form of
portraiture – a brief glimpse of the complexity of so-called ordinary lives.
These are live self-portraits. In the moment, the performers choose which
dances they want to present, which narratives to reveal and pursue, an ongoing
process of tangling and untangling personal histories.Sometimes they’ll return to a memory to
discover something new or to correct a detail.As we look at the portrait of another, we might also somehow see
ourselves. I’m drawn to the difference between what we think we’re showing and
how we’re being seen. And of course, when we’re the ones doing the seeing, our
own experience influences what we think we see.Dance appears to be a potent way to do this – it’s familiar to us all,
whether we choose to sit on the sidelines or jump right in”

Present Tense presented by Adam York Gregory &Gillian Jane Lees as part of GIFT at BALTIC (Sat)

On Saturday
5 May, Glasgow based performance artists Adam York Gregory & Gillian Jane Lees share Present
Tense a task based durational performance at BALTIC. Experimenting with
anxiety, a performer backs
herself into a corner by setting several hundred mouse-traps, each one adding
to a growing sense of tension and a breath-taking visual.

International artists

This
year’s International artists include Danish theatre company CHACMA and German performance artists Oliver Zhan and Julian Warner. CHACMA present ROBUST
a unique fusion of physical theatre, soundscape and poetry slam at
BALTIC on Saturday 5 May at 2pm and 4pm. Oliver Zahn and Julian Warner present Situation with Doppelgänger examining
the cultural appropriation of the minstrel dance at BALTIC on Saturday 6 May at
8.30pm.

New for 2018

For the first time, GIFT is joining forces
with the Thought Foundation in Birtley to present a selection of performances
and works in progress. Newcastle trio Bonnie
and the Bonnettes will be based at the Thought Foundation working on their
new show And She. exploring motherhood, femininity and reinvention. They
will open up their rehearsal room on Sunday 6 May between 10am-3pm inviting
GIFT participants to drop in and share their stories and thoughts on
motherhood. As Cameron Sharp, from Bonnie and the Bonnettes, said:

Someone Loves You Drive With Care presented by Tom Cassani as part of GIFT at BALTIC (Sun)

“GIFT is hugely important as it gives us a platform to begin work on
our second show. It’s a stepping stone between the gathering of our mums
stories, which we did with a residency at Gala Theatre supported by the NEAD
scheme, and going on to make the show. With GIFT, we are opening our first
rehearsal up for an audience to come in and to hear our mums words, in our
voices, for the first time. We are really excited to start work on our second
show. It's going to be a lot different and a lot bigger than our debut show
Drag Me to Love”

Also, new for 2018, GIFT has curated two
Scratch events. Little GIFT Scratch
is especially created for young people (4-8 year olds) and their families.
Taking place on Saturday 5 May, Little GIFT Scratch includes two work-in-progress
performances by NE artists created specifically for young people and their
grown-ups. Plus, on Saturday night, the GREAT
GIFTScratch will bring together
some of the most daring NE based artists for a night of brand new ideas. These
Scratch events give audiences a unique chance to see work at a very early stage
and offer feedback on their future development.

GIFT brings together artists, audiences and
participants in venues and locations across Gateshead from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 May. Festival Passes allowing access to all
events are £40 (Full Price) and £25
(Concessions).

Tickets for individual events vary from £5 to £12. There are also a number of free performances and events
throughout the festival.